The American Healthcare Association
Clayton Kirkland-Sparrow
Business Internship
11/18/14

Abstract In my twenty-one years of life I have learned that people are constantly learning and growing. No matter the age people learn new things every day and the things experienced in life will impact the way we carry ourselves in the future. Having worked the summer in Washington, DC with the American HealthCare Association, AHCA, in a business professional environment was a great experience. The purpose of this paper is to describe my experience interning at American Healthcare Association. Also, I will focus on the organizations policies on business ethics and environmental management. In conclusion, I will sum up my experience and explain how it shaped my perspective on business ethics and environmental management.

Quality and Research “Improving Lives by Delivering Solutions for Quality Care” is the mission statement of the American Healthcare Association. I was hired as an intern with the quality and research department of AHCA. My team and department worked together for the launching of their program called LTC Trend Tracker, which was a program the organization invested a lot of man power, time, and money into. My first day of working was Monday June 9, 2014. On the first day my supervisor walked me to my cubicle with my nametag and materials already on the desk and in the drawer. The first week was pretty easy, very similar to college and its freshman orientation week. I spent the week meeting everyone in my department, learning how to use their time-sheets, and other important programs used throughout the organization. Also, I took the time to get familiar with the companies handbook which had listed everything you wanted to know from their motto to drug-testing policies. The first week was great in helping me get a feel for Washington, DC and how to navigate their public transportation system. Asking my co-workers where the best places were located to eat and other tricks and trades of the workplace was great in helping strengthen the relationship of our team. After the first week I was given different assignments that they needed accomplished. I did a variety of different things from looking for qualified people who could speak at a healthcare Convention they were hosting to helping keep track of the available budget for the forthcoming Trend Tracker project. I had to familiarize myself more with Microsoft office specifically Excel seeing as though a lot of the information that was programmed into the trend tracker program was based off of the charts and lists we made up on excel. Once the lists of people and organizations were neatly organized in excel we would send our portion of the work to the IT department and they would upload everything to the program. The program officially launched October 1st, 2014 and I have heard nothing but good news about it from my supervisor whom I still keep in contact with. Looking back it feels really good to be able to say that I contributed in the success of the launching of the Trend Tracker program. I really got to see how each department in an organization work together to accomplish the common goal of the company. While interning I also was able to meet the current president of the organization. He was a genuine and hardworking person. He took all of his interns out to lunch three times over the summer sharing his knowledge with us and allowing us to ask him questions and get a feel for how he got where he is today. During our first two luncheons he assigned two books for the interns to have completed by the end of the summer. The books were entitled “From good to great” and “Outliers”, these books were great reads and
Business Ethics The American Healthcare Association was a terrific place of employment. They put their employees first. It is definitely a company that is ran from the inside, focusing on employee satisfaction which translates into great customer service. The work environment was conducive for positive results because everyone constantly looked to help and uplift one another. Even the supervisors were very understanding and accepting that sometimes life happens and you have to take care of other things outside of work. As long as your work was completed in a timely manner it did not matter how it was accomplished. It was such a great environment to be a part of they even had a dress down Friday where employees were able to wear jeans and a button up shirt instead of having to wear the regular slacks, dress shirt, and tie outfit. The American Healthcare Association’s main viewpoint on business ethics is that the work you put into what you are trying to accomplish will show based off of the results. For instance, because my team and I put a great deal of time and effort into making our excel spread sheets it was easy for the IT team to upload everything into the Trend Tracker program. The organization also believed in honesty and teamwork. If there was ever a problem I had with an assignment I was given I could easily go ask my supervisor or anyone apart of my team. In fact, my supervisor insisted that I asked questions whenever I was confused about anything. Unlike companies such as Wal-Mart and Nike, the American Healthcare Association is a sound organization that looks to support its employees and being a non-profit organization gives back to the community.
Environmental Management The American Healthcare Association was environmentally friendly. All records and paper work were electronic. There was very little use of loose-leaf paper in the company. In fact, there was even a recycle bin on each floor of the building. They even had plastic cups, plates, and eating utensils in all the kitchens in the building. Not only is the American Healthcare Association aware and conscious of the environment but they constantly were looking to give back to society. They had opportunities where employees could spend work days at an actual retirement home and get paid as though they were in the office. The corporation even had canned food drives which they would give a way at the end of every month. The American Healthcare Association is a great organization from the way they treat their employees to the way they help the environment and give back to the community.
Conclusion
The American Healthcare Association is very aware of environmental issues going on today, and I believe the corporation does a great job at balancing business and environmental awareness. My time interning at the American Healthcare Association was major experience. I learned how to interact with others in the workplace, saw the type of dress employees wore on regular days and dress down days and I even got to better familiarize myself with Microsoft Excel. This was a riveting experience and I look forward to a career in the business field.